After The Real Folk Blues
by xXViciousXx
Summary: Since they never specified wether or not he dies, I came up with a story about what happened. Please read it and review it. Thank you.
1. Default Chapter

After The Real Folk Blues  
  
Prologue  
  
The blank eyes of Spike Spiegel slowly slipped from the clear blue sky to the blood stained, tile, floor. As he lay there, blood pouring from the wide wound in his stomach he realized that for the first time he was truly happy. He would finally be re-united with Julia, while not in life, but in death. After he had spent so much time searching for her, they would finally be together, forever. Unfortunately for him there was only one thing stopping him. The persistence of his fellow bounty hunters, Faye and Jet. He re-awoke to a series of painful, electric, shocks that ran throughout his body. They tore him curelly away from his everlasting love with Julia. His eyes slowly opened to see the faces of Faye and Jet, Faye in tears weeping over him hoping to god he was still alive, and Jet more serious than ever trying to hold back his frustration that his friend had left him alone with her. Julia seemed so close yet unreachable as he lay there in incredible pain staring into the eyes of his friends. He tried to tell them that they should just let him go, that he was happier here than he had ever been on earth, that he was tired of the dream but all that could escape his lips was a barely audible groan. Faye however heard it and while not realizing what he was trying to say, now knew one thing, Spike Spiegel was alive.  
  
Spike stood at the base of the pitch black cathedral. They where all around him. In the shadows, above him, on the stairs, there was no escape. He wanted to just let them shoot him. Everything would be over and he would finally be at peace. But he was forced to fight back. He raised his right hand that held the tommy gun, and held the boquet tight in his left. The entire thing seemed to be played in front of his eyes in slow motion. The gun spat out round after round, of burning hot bullets, each bullet hitting its mark. Bam, a stray bullet had hit him in his upper shoulder.His finger squeezed on the trigger. He had lost all feeling to his finger, but he held the trigger anyway. All he could see was darkness but he fired anyway. The empty chamber clicked repeatedly but he held his finger down anyway. All at once he realized what he was doing and released the triger, letting the gun drop with a loud crash to the floor . The rain pounded on the majestic stained glass windows, of the huge cathedral, flower petals began floating softly down from the ceiling. A song that he remembered from when he was much younger began playing in the background. He could barely recall the name, Green Bird. He was sure Julia had taught it to him years before. He picked up the bouqet and stepped silently out of the church The rain fell on his head drenching him with water as he stood there looking ahead. Julia was spread out on the floor, holding the same boquet that he had meant to give her many years before, in her hands, her long golden hair splattered with a dark red liquid. "Julia!" He tried to cry out to her, but his throat wouldnt seem to work. He ran to her, kneeling down beside her body, and softly placed his head upon her chest. His tears ran down the side his cheek flooding into a pool on her red velvet dress. Julia opened her eyes and stared blankly at him. A high pitched ghostly voice seemed to appear inside his mind. "You killed me." "What? No. It wasn't my fault. I-" And than a blinding flash of light. 


	2. Chapter 2

After The Real Folk Blues  
  
Session 1: The Real Folk Blues.  
  
Faye lay on the couch, one foot hanging over impatiently tapping the heel of her shoe on the cold metal floor. She was laying, sprawled out, on the couch trying to fight back the tears, and still trying to come to grips with everything that had happened the past few days. She had been crying ever since Spike had left because she hadn't realised until now that she had feelings for him, and now it was too late. Jet was pacing back and forth in front of her, a ciggarette tightly clenched between his teeth, waiting for any sign of life from his friend other than the groan he now wasn't sure he had even heard. He took a long drag on the ciggarette and slowly exhaled. They had to get Spike to someone who knew more about medicene than they did. Jets herbal remedies of dried lizards and milk didn't do much if he couldn't even swallow them, and Fayes... well Faye had no idea what to do when it came to medicene. Both of them knew that they had to find Ed and get her to help them. Ed was definitely the smartest one when it came to many things including medicene and would have easily been able to nurse Spike back to health. Ed, however, could be anywhere on Earth, and they where running out of fuel. While they knew it would be easier to take him to a hospital they couldn't do it. Both because of their lack of funds and the fact that as well as being a bounty hunter he was now a wanted criminal, with a 2 billion woolong bounty on his head for the murders of 52 people. 32 of these where actually Vicious's kills however they where paid handsomely to keep quiet about Vicious so Spike's kills became 52. It should have been 53. But one body was missing. The single person that spike actually cared was dead, the one who he had nearly sacrificed his life to get to. Vicious's body was missing. The headlines where all over the news, A Single Man Assassinates the Leaders Of A Well Known Syndicate. This of course was not true. Vicious had been the one to assassinate the leaders. Spike had just, in turn, assassinated him, and the ones who followed him. After Spike's 2 billion bounty was announced Big Shot was immediately put back on the air. Afraid of missing a chance like this, the whole cast had been rehired. The ratings for Big Shot had shot through the roof after Spike's huge bounty was publicly announced on the show. Everyone now tuned in to see if any new information had been announced about his whereabouts. The only thing people knew about him so far was, 1. That he was incredibly dangerous, and 2. that now one knew a thing about him. Actually that wasn't true, but everyone who knew him was either dead, or to afraid to say anything. The people down at Big Shot however, thought up a few lies here and there saying things like, "We have received new information." Or "We have received word that he is somewhere near so and so planet." While you would think this would discredit the show, it was believed that Spike was just an incredibly smart bounty who managed to keep just out of reach. So people just kept tuning in to find out which planet he was near this time. Unknown to the people at Big Shot, or anyone else he was actually on earth. The Bebop had just landed over a wide stretch of ocean.Ed however knew the instant they landed where they where. While she had mixed feelings about it, because she was now with her dad. Although he was much to wrapped up in his work to take care of Ed, he was still her dad and she loved him. Her connection to the crew of the Bebop, however, was to great to just ignore and she knew they had come there for her. She knew what she had to do but wasn't sure if she should just leave without saying goodbye. If she talked to him about it before she left would he even let her leave? Or would she still want to? About five minutes later, it came to her. She was watching Ein sleeping on the floor of the tank like mobile they used to traverse around the planet and gather new information, when it suddenly hit her. Spike, Faye, Jet, Ein, they where her family, and she knew they needed her more than her father did. That night without a word, Ed grabbed Ein by the collar and with a happy giggle she shoved him out of the tight top hatch of the vehicle and out into the dark night. She had left her father a note by his bed, but knowing her father, she knew he probably wouldn't see it. She had planned for that though and left "a few" by the cockpit of his mobile. As she looked up into the sky a familiar bubbly feeling came back to her, that she hadn't felt in a long time. "Ed Ed coooming back!" She cried happily into the dark night sky. After moving about three steps into the night however she realized she couldn't see a thing and went back inside the cramped mobile to find a flashlight.About five minutes later she stepped again out of the mobile and flipped the switch. Nothing happened. Ed threw the flashlight to the ground and grabbed her computer. She flipped the top up and activated the tracking beacon she had placed on the Bebop during her time on board.  
  
Jupiter:Docking Bay 3  
  
"Come in, unknown ship, this is docking bay gaurd 892. Please identify yourself immediately. If you do not comply you will be-" There was a loud blast and the small ship exploded into tiny fragments of metal and glass. The large black gunship moved with surprising speed through the docking bay,destroying any other ships that got in the way. There was no way they where going to let a little thing like the police stop them. They would rather die. They quickly made there way into Jupiters upper Atmosphere. A voice sounded over the speaker system that was patched to listen in on police conversations. "We have a large unidentified gun ship making its way through Docking Bay 3 towards Jupiter. We need backup, UFO is armed and extremely dangerous. I repeat we nee-." The transmission was lost. The ship was now just more space debris that the gunship, Xialo III, left in its wake.  
  
They sat still, silently hoping for some sign of Spike's life returning to him. After about an hour of nothing Faye noticed something off. Spikes Bangage where different than they where when she had put them on him. "Jet did you do something to Spike's bandages?" "Huh? nope havent touched'em. Why is there something wrong?" But before she had a chance to answer a loud rumbling burst from the engine room and Ed's familiar face popped up on all of the ships monitors one by one. Faye and Jet where surprised by the engines starting and even more so at how badly Eds piloting still was since the time when they had met her. She lifted the ship off the ground with a jolt, and piloted the large ship across the surface of the planet towards the crater where Ed was waiting with a game controller in her hand. "Weeheeheehee! Bebop come to Ed Ed." Unfortunately for her, Ed didn't know that the reason they landed on earth wasn't to pick her up (although that was definitely what they where thinking about) but because they where nearly out of fuel. About half way through their flight to where Ed was happily waiting, Joystick in hand, the Bebop ran out of fuel. Ed, being a hacker and (luckily) not a pilot, had no idea what was happening. She pressed harder on the joystick and rapidly twisted it around trying to regain control of the ship but without fuel there was nothing even the great hacker Ed could do, but to try to keep it straight and hopefully glide the ship at least 1 mile to where she was waiting. About five minutes later she saw the ship barely skim across a tall mountain ,flying, engines completely depleted, towards her. Ed happily jumped up "Bebop Bebop land here." But no fuel meant no brakes. As the nose of the ship quickly turned downward and the descent began Ed realized that the ship was heading straight for her fathers mobile. "Uh oh" she turned around and quickly ran towards the mobile but the Bebop was flying much faster than she could run. She jumped on top of the mobile and threw the hatch open. She tried to jump in but she got caught half way through. With her legs sticking out of the top and the rest of her body half way in the tank she knew she had to tell her father. "Daddy Dad! WAKE UP!" She yelled as loud as she could. Her dad came walking up to her from the small bedroom compartment. "Daddy Bebop Bebop is going to hit us" She said with a wide grin on her face to hide the fact that it was her fault. He looked out the nearest window and stared out at the huge ship hurtling towards them. "WHAT?!". The Bebop was rapidly closing the distance between the ship and them.He ran to the cockpit , stuck they key in the hole, and turned it to the right. It was the wrong key. "Daddy whats happening why aren't we moving?" He pulled the key out and fumbled with the key ring putting in key after key. He held up the final key in the ring. "Heh just my luck." Ed heard the impact of the Bebop outside and the loud crashing and scraping as it plowed through the earth towards them. "Aaah Daddy!" She started wiggling back and forth trying to squeeze through the hole. The noise got closer and closer and the vehicle shook harder, until, it stopped. Ed finally managed to squeeze her way through the hole and than stuck her head back out the top. She came face to face with the large metal nose of the Bebop and grinned happily. "Bebop here! Faye Faye Spike Spike come out!" She heard a crashing and slid back inside to see her father sprawled out on the floor. "Daddy funny". Ed popped out of the top of the mobile and ran to a ladder on the side of the Bebop. She lept up onto the ladder and quickly climbed up to the top. She saw a familiar large brown steel door slowly open. As it did a large pile of food and trash fell out. Faye stepped out completely covered in instant noodles and a mix of garbage and laundry. Faye looked angry but at the same time sad. "You know Ed you could have at least refueled our ship before crashing it this time." Ed scratched the back of her head, closed her eyes in content, and grinned. "Ed sorry." Jet climbed out even more garbage on him. "Well, you completely destroyed half of my Bonsai trees, and i think that the engine is gonna need a hell of a lot of repairs but hey, thats what i get for coming back to this god forsaken planet." Than she noticed something was wrong, she could tell from the expressions on their faces. "Wait... Ed thinks someone missing. Huh? Where Spike Spike?" Ein climbed down from her back, in shock over what had just taken place. He curled up on the deck of the Bebop and Instantly fell asleep with a content smile lingering on the small dogs face.   
  
Jupiter:Science Defence Station  
  
"Activate the automated gun turrets. Get fighters out there now! Where the hell is the backup? What?! Theyre already dead? Damnit!" "Sir, gun turret 3 down." "Gun turret 19 down." "5 gun turrets where hit sir." "Sir We have 3 gun turrets left." "Sir we have no fighters left, and all the gun turrets are destroyed. Wh-What are we gonna do sir?" "Nothing. Theres nothing we can do anymore. The syndicate can not lose." "The what sir?" The Jupiter Science Defence Station has been destroyed. 


	3. Chapter 3

After The Real Folk Blues  
  
Session 2: Dream On.  
  
Without waiting for an answer that she already knew, she ran inside. She looked around the familiar first deck and couldn't see anything different. She knew where he had to be. She jumped over the railing and ran over to the couch. She slowly raised her head above the back of the couch and peered at the once strong Spike Spiegel, laying wrapped in bandages and hooked up to a respiratory machine, his loud breathing echoing throughout the cabin. Faye and Jet slowly followed Ed into the large cabin room and sat down on the couch across from Spike. "As you can see Ed," Jet began "We came here because we needed your help. Hes alive but just barely and we have no idea what to do with him." Faye trying to get her mind off of the situation at hand flipped on the T.V. The familiar theme song to Big Shot played over the bad connection. "Howdy to all 3 million Bounty Hunters in the system." The show was just as corny as before with both of the hosts riding on sticks with fake horse heads on them, pretending they where cowboys. The main host had a pretty bad texan accent that anyone could tell is fake. His co-host was the ultimate dumb blond. She was the one who asked the obviuos questions and got the obvious answers in return. She was mostly on the show to boost the shows average ratings because now adays people think that even a crappy show will sell with if it has sex appeall "Today we have a huge update on the Spike Spiegel bounty. According to unknown sources we have found out that this, 3billion dollar bounty, IS IN A COMA." "Hes in a coma?" Another obvious question asked by his blond, busty side kick. "Well than how come no one can seem to find him?" "Well according to this unknown source who has been paid 20 million woolongs for his support, Spike Spiegel is actually on planet earth." The blond made an incredibly dumb statement supporting the myth that all blondes are dumb. "In fact I hear he's even in the same room as the person whos making this very call. Oops im sorry we werent supposed to say that part on air where we?" Everyone turned around to see Ed's dad on the phone looking directly at them with a frightened expression on his face. "Wh-What why are you all looking at me like that? I was just ordering a pizza. Ya, kinda funny, the only pizza place on a crater filled, deserted earth is Dominoes. They are actually making more money, after the earth was deserted than they where before. Hey now look, I know Dominoes sucks but theres really not much other choice is the-. Hey isnt that, that Big Shot show? Im talkin to them right no-.... Ooooh crap."   
  
Five minutes later.  
  
"Now come on guys be reasonable, searching the earth for new craters isnt exactly profitable. I needed some extra income. Please just let me go this once." All three replied at once "NO!" Faye started. "What the hell do you think your doing?! You better have some kind of really good excuse cause if you dont..." "Ed Ed angry at Daddy." Jet was trying to keep his cool but he knew that soon there would be bounty hunters scowering the planet looking for Spike. "Look that was a really stupid thing you just did. You didnt think we would know right away who it was when the police started showing up? Now i want you to call them back, give them there woolongs back, and tell them that you where just trying to make a few extra bucks but you where caught doing it." "What? Are you nuts? He should keep the woolongs and give them to me, uh I mean us." Faye of course wanted the woolongs all for herself. "Faye I-" but he thought about it and realized that for the first time that he could remember, Faye's greed was actually right. After the kind of damage the ship had taken, it would need lots of money put into it for repairs. "Faye," He really didnt want to say it, he knew she would never let him live it down, but he had to say it. "Faye, your right." "No please i need the woolongs for- Wait. What did you just say?" "Faye, I said your right." "Yes I am right!" "First time for everything I guess." "What was that Jet?" "Nothing." She wore a proud grin. "Well, Im glad you finally see things my way. Here." She handed him her card. "Just transfer the woolongs over to my account." "No, the woolongs are going towards the ships repair." Faye looked as though she had just been hit over the head with a hammer. "WHAT!? No way those woolongs are mine. It was my idea after all." Jet just smiled. "Yes but it was also your idea to land on earth and look were that got us." Ed's dad apparantly didnt like either of these ideas. "Come on we will split it 50/50 i get half you guys get half, I mean after all I'm the one that called it in." Both Jet and Faye slowly turned toward him. "YOUR LUCKY YOU DONT GET A BULLET IN THE FACE!" Theyre hatred for him, at the moment at least, was much greater than there hatred for eachother. "WHAT THE HELL, YOU TRY TO TURN OUR FRIEND IN NOW YOU WANT A REWARD?!" Both looked back at eachother. "The moneys going to the ship Faye, unless you want Spike's death on your hands." Faye looked stunned. "What?" Jet had a serious, sullen look. "What the hell do you think Spike's respirator is running on?" Faye had forgotten all about Spike's condition. "I- Im sorry. I was being selfish without even thinking about what would happen to Spike." She solemnly left the room, turning back only once to look at Spike, her eyes brimming with tears. She quickly turned back around trying to hide the tears from Jet and Ed. Jet attached his card to the machine and download the money onto his card. He replaced it back into his pocket and flipped on the video phone to contact the man who had built both the Bebop, and Spike's Swordfish II. Jet sighed. He knew that Faye had forgotten and that he really shouldn't be angry at her for it. After all thats just the way Faye was, she couldnt help it if she was greedy and self indulgent. But at the moment all he could do was sit and wait for the old guy to come.  
  
Jupiter: Science Facility  
  
"He's dead, he has to be. Nobody can survive all that this guys been through." The doctor was hysterical that someone like Vicious had been brought to the hospital he worked at. He knew Vicious was with some syndicate but he knew nothing beyond that. "Hey aint he one of those syndicate leaders? You know the ones who got shot up by that guy, uhh what's his name... Oh ya Spike Spiegel?" The man in the black coat looked darkly into his eyes. "He isn't dead." "What?! Look at him this guy is dead." The man touched a cold finger to Vicious's head "No his brain is still functioning with minimal output." " Oh ya well alotta good that will do him if his body-" "The body is fine. It can be repaired." The man now knows why they are here and what will happen to him. "Woah, you mean cloning? That shit aint legal, you know that right? I could go to jail." The man in the black coat looked up into the scientists eyes, His cold, peircing stare seemed unhuman, and a dark grimace spread across his face. "You wish." Bang! A single shot was fired from an unseen gun. The body and the shell fell to the floor simultaniously. The scientist lay, face down in a pool of blood that slowly spread out across the floor from the hole in his head. Another man, this one dressed in a red jumpsuit, with spiked Black hair, stepped out of the darkness, a smoking gun in his hand, a hysterical smirk on his face.  
  
As Doctor Mendelo circled the crash site, and surveyed the area below, he asked himself how the hell could a pilot as skilled as Jet crash the ship that badly. "Hmm, new engines, lotsa framework... how in the hell did he do that?" Jet looked up to see a small fighter plane circling the Bebop. "Heh old doc still has that garbage heap." Faye looked at it in disgust. "How can he even think of piloting something that ugly?" "Old habits die hard I guess." He looked over at the Bebop and realized it couldnt be that much newer than what the doctor was piloting. It, however, had been painted and kept in good condition. Untill now of course. "Heh, old ship's startin' to look more like you every day, eh Jet?" "Shutup Spi-" Jet and Faye instantly spun around. Spike Spiegel stood hunched over on his crutches, still wrapped in bandages smiling at the two of them and there utter amazement that he could be standing there. Faye rushed up to him and grabbed him squeezing him tight. "Umm, Faye? I cant breathe." But Faye squeezed him even tighter. After she finally let him go they both stared at her blushing face. "I was uh.. getting you back for forcing us to land here Spike!" Her eyes where filled with tears but she was happier than she had been in a long time. 


End file.
